Braynova Ilina, Boradzhieva Verzhiniya, Timonov Pavel, Fasova Antoaneta, Mileva Biliana, Alexandrov Alexandar
Forensic Medicine and Deontology, Medical University Sofia, Sofia, BGR.
Forensic Medicine, Alexandrovska Hospital Sofia, Sofia, BGR.
Cureus. 2024 Mar 3;16(3):e55441. doi: 10.7759/cureus.55441. eCollection 2024 Mar.
Cause of death is defined as a natural disease or injury that led to physiologic changes resulting in death. Manner of death refers to the circumstances surrounding death. Decomposition, especially in advanced stages, creates difficulties in post-mortem examination for it encompasses the processes that lead to the loss of important observable findings and features. Traumatic injuries observed in decomposed cadavers might be analyzed by their vital features and significance for the occurrence of fatal outcomes that help determine the cause and manner of death. An almost fully skeletonized cadaver was admitted to the Department of Forensic Medicine and Deontology at The Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria. Along with the obligation to answer the post-mortem interval, what were the anthropological and biological features, the cause and manner of death had to be determined in order to classify the case as criminal or not. The cause of death was established by the morphological finding - gunshot injury of the head, passing the brain. The manner of death remained undetermined because of the absence of soft tissues in the areas of the injuries. It was concluded that there was no sufficient forensic data to answer if it was suicide, homicide, or even an accident.
死亡原因定义为导致生理变化并最终导致死亡的自然疾病或损伤。死亡方式是指围绕死亡的各种情况。尸体腐烂，尤其是在晚期，会给尸检带来困难，因为它涵盖了导致重要可观察结果和特征丧失的过程。对于腐烂尸体中观察到的创伤性损伤，可以通过其生命特征以及对致命结果发生的意义进行分析，这有助于确定死亡原因和死亡方式。一具几乎完全白骨化的尸体被送往保加利亚索非亚医科大学法医学与道义学系。除了要确定死后间隔时间外，还必须确定人类学和生物学特征、死亡原因和死亡方式，以便将该案件归类为刑事案件与否。死亡原因通过形态学发现得以确定——头部枪伤，子弹穿过脑部。由于损伤部位没有软组织，死亡方式仍无法确定。得出的结论是，没有足够的法医数据来回答这是自杀、他杀，甚至是意外事故。
